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Ira C. Eaker

Lt. Gen. USAF

Founding Pioneer of

U.S. Air Power

Born Field Creek, Texas

April 13, 1896August 6, 1987

Ira Clarence Eaker received a degree from Southeastern State
Teachers College, Durant, Oklahoma in 1917. After studying law at
Columbus University from 1924-1926, he received his degree in
Journalism in 1938.

Called to active duty in mid 1917, he requested aviation duty
and received his wings as Military Aviator in September 1918.
This was the beginning of an odyssey that was to see the name of
Ira Eaker in the forefront of aviation for the next three
decades.

After duty in the Philippines and the Staff of the Chief of
Air Service, he was selected as one of the pilots of the Pan
American Goodwill Flight of 1926-27. For this, he became one of
the first to be awarded the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross.
Known as a pilot's pilot, Eaker was chosen as a primary crew
member of the historic 1929 Army endurance flight of 150 hours
aloft in the Fokker monoplane Question Mark.

Recognized as an officer of high command potential, Major
Eaker was selected to attend the elite Air Corps Tactical School
in 1936 and the War College in 1937. In the same year, he made
the first transcontinental flight entirely on instruments.

With Gen. H.H. Arnold, he co-authored the first of his books, This
Flying Game. In 1941, Colonel Eaker, while commander of the
20th Pursuit Group, published two additional books, Winged
Warfare and Army Flyer.

In January 1942, Brig. General Eaker was assigned the task of
organizing the Eighth Air Force Bomber Command, which was to be
the backbone of U.S. airpower in the European Theater. On August
of that year, he personally led the first strike on continental
Europe, continuing to lead the Eighth Air Force until January
1944 when Lt. Gen. Eaker was assigned to command all Allied Air
Forces in the Mediterranean area.

In the postwar years, he served as Deputy Commander of the
Army Air Forces and was a principal architect of the new separate
air arm, the United States Air Force. Retired from active duty in
1947, he joined Douglas Aircraft as Vice President until 1961.
Ira Eaker remained a sage adviser and author on U S. air power affairs until his
death.

Invested 1981 in the International Aerospace
Hall of Fame

From "These We Honor," The
International Hall of Fame; The San Diego Aerospace Museum,
San Diego, CA. 1984